To Trap A Temptress (Southern Sanctuary - Book 2) (17 page)

Coughing
and spluttering Nell found herself being hauled over to the water’s edge. 
She had only seconds to process where she was and what was happening. 
They had surfaced in an underground cave; flickering torches placed
strategically around the cavern lit the utterly bare dank and sandy
space.  At least the ceilings were high.  Nell’s view of the cavern
abruptly changed as her wrist was yanked skywards and Devon hauled her out of
the water using nothing more than the two locks of hair wrapped around her
wrist.  Wow, she didn’t have time to process how much tensile strength
must be in each of those glossy strands before she was pulled back roughly into
Devon’s tight embrace, something wicked sharp coming to rest against her
jugular. 

Somewhere
on the way here she’d managed to lose her shoes, no time to mourn them though
as she blinked water from her eyes and focused on Drum and Case standing
directly across from them on a wide strip of sandy rock.  No scratch that,
Drum standing across from them looking ready to rip Case’s head off,
considering the tight headlock he had around the other man’s throat.

“So
this is where you disappeared to that first day.”  Devon surveyed her
surroundings with outright disgust.  “A lair?  Seriously?  What
are you medieval?”

Case
made a half grunt, half gurgle in reply, drawing Devon’s attention back to his
immediate situation.  With the tight hold Drum had on the other man Nell
was surprised he’d managed to make that much of a response. 

Issuing
an exasperated sigh Devon contemplated the mess her ‘fiancée’ had managed to
get himself into. “This shouldn’t come as a surprise Case but the marriage is
off.”

“No!” 
Case’s response was muffled but vehement. 

Strange,
considering only yesterday he hadn’t seemed particularly happy with the idea of
marrying Devon.

“Shut
up.”  Drum flexed his bicep, causing Case trapped in the headlock to emit
a pained moan.  “Let Nell go.”
 
Drum’s eyes never left Devon’s.

“I
may not marry the man but there would still be hell to pay if I let you hurt
him, as I think I mentioned our families have a long history together.”
 
Devon pulled Nell that little bit
closer.
 
Nell arched her head just a tiny
fraction higher as whatever Devon had against her throat slightly pierced the
skin, a warm small tear of blood trailing down to her collarbone.

Nell
watched Drum’s assessing black eyes take Devon’s measure.  “On three?”

Devon
capitulated.  “On three.”

Drum
counted them down.  When he hit three he sent Case sprawling across the
sandy floor away from the water’s edge whilst Devon gave Nell a none too gentle
shove in Drum’s direction.  

Drum
caught Nell in his arms, bringing her in close.  With a quick visual
glance he confirmed Nell was all in one piece before turning his attention to
Devon.  “I think you’d better start talking!”

Devon
raised an imperious eyebrow, sauntering over to a nearby rocky outcrop to take
a seat.  “And just who crowned you King of the Sea?” 

Nell
would have dearly liked to know how the other woman had managed to keep her
shoes on during their underwater journey or for that matter how she was now
perfectly dry whilst Nell was a dripping mess.  The mind concentrates on
the silliest things when one was stressed.

“Talk!” 
Drum never took his attention off Devon.

“Or
else what?”   Devon mocked, studying her nails intently.  They
were razor sharp and infinitely longer than they had been on board the
cruiser.  No wonder it had felt as if the other woman had been holding a
knife to her throat. 

“Or
by the authority of the Goddess Maat I will bring a drought into being that
will dry up every river, stream, estuary and trickle of water that runs within
a 1,000 mile radius of you and all your kin.  No matter where you travel,
where you choose to hide the drought will travel with you, a blight attached to
your very essence.
 
Or I might choose the
easier option and kill off your little minion here that does all your
bidding.”
 
Drum flicked a hard glare in Case’s
direction.

“Don’t
tell him anything Devon!”  Case staggered to his feet, cradling his left,
possibly broken arm, swaying slightly, blood running from his crooked nose, one
of his eyes blackened, his lower lip swollen to three times its normal size,
split and leaking blood.

“Oh
shut up Case. It’s okay for you, the oceans never run dry.  What gave me
away?”  Devon directed the question Drum’s way.

“The
hair was my first clue.  The razor sharp three inch nails literally put a
lid on the coffin.  So you’re a Makura, I thought there’d be a tail or
something.”

Devon
shrugged.  “Old wives story.”

“So
why have you been trying to kill Nell?”

“Not
me.”  Devon turned her head giving Case a distinct look of distaste. 
“Case… officially now my ex-fiancée, seems to be operating to his own mystery agenda
here.
 
I didn’t know anything about it
until tonight.”
 
Her lip curled as she
continued to contemplate the mess that was Case Chambers.
 
Smeared with dirt, his hair matted and sticking out
in clumps, blood from his nose continuing to drip down his chin and shirt Case
looked like Drum had spent hours beating on him rather than the few seconds
head start he’d had before their arrival. 

“Why
Case?”  Nell couldn’t keep the shock and hint of betrayal out of her
voice.  They’d once been friends, colleagues, shared meals and spent hours
bitching about how tired yet happy they were to be interns at such a
prestigious hospital, it was unbelievable to her to think Case wanted her dead.
 
It was much easier to believe Devon intended her
harm but Case?  “Why have you been trying to kill me?”  Nell took
comfort in the feel of Drum’s hand caressing the small of her back in
reassurance.

“I
wasn’t trying to kill you.”  Case spat out a wad of phlegm and blood,
wiping ineffectually at his bloodied chin with his shirt sleeve.  He sent
a longing glance towards the water then a glare of hatred at both Drum and
Devon who stood between him an escape.

“It
sure felt like drowning to me.”  Nell groused softly.

“Well
if you hadn’t tried to fight me that first day you wouldn’t have gotten
hurt.”  He sounded like a sullen child shifting the blame for the fight on
to his smaller, weaker opponent. 

Nell
couldn’t help but roll her eyes, noting Devon’s reaction was the same. 
For a moment the two women’s eyes met and an understanding passed between them…
men!

“You
were trying to bring her here that day at the cove weren’t you?”  Drum
barked out the question.
 
His large fists
clenched, clearly he wanted to be doing more to Case than just asking the man
questions.

“I
needed to get her alone… away from you.  Away from all the distractions.”

“Why?” 
Nell was confused.

“To
see if there was any chance of re-kindling what we once had.”
 
Case declared his blue eyes full of sincerity
with a hint of something else, perhaps desperation.

Nell’s
mouth dropped open in surprise.  She felt Drum tense slightly beside her
but he didn’t pull away.  “Excuse me?  What did we have?”

“Please
Nell, everyone knew how you felt about me.”

“They
did?  Then you’d better enlighten me.”  Nell demanded tersely.

“You
were head over heels in love with me.  Couldn’t do enough for me. 
Took on all the crappy run of the mill cases I couldn’t be bothered dealing
with.  Happily worked my Saturday night shifts in trade and always had a
hot meal waiting for me when I got home.”

“You
deluded jerk.”  Nell shook her head in genuine bemusement.  “I wasn’t
in love with you!  I took on every ones cast off patients because I
believe that every person no matter how minor their pain or problem deserves a
Doctor’s full an undivided attention.  Besides I used to catch my best
cases that way, the minor occasionally turned into something very
interesting.  And as for your Saturday night shifts?  I was so sleep
deprived I never knew what day of the week it was.  The interns were
always swapping shifts; I never gave it a second thought.  And you thought
I cooked all those meals for you when we shared a house?  Duncan was the
one in love with you, you half-wit, he was the one trying to impress you… not
me!”

Devon
laughed, the sound bouncing and echoing off the cavern ceiling and walls. 
Out the corner of her eye Nell noted Drum likewise was amused, the corner of
his mouth lifted.

“So
just what exactly did you hope to achieve by ‘re-kindling’ my so called
affection for you Case?  You and Devon are… were practically engaged… talk
about skeezy.”

“It’s
not like that.”  Case ran a hand through his matted hair.  “I just
needed a virgin to declare her feelings for me. I couldn’t sign the marriage
contract without a solid power base.”

Nell
was back to being confused whilst Devon was now glaring daggers Case’s
way. 

“Which
explains why you were stalling on the pre-nup.”
 
Devon threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.
 
“Rivers and lakes you really are an idiot!”

“Hold
on.”  Nell held up a hand.  “I think we’ve jumped the shark, let’s
take a few steps back.  Who… what exactly is Case?  Why get married
if you two don’t... love… care for one another?  And why would he need a
virgin’s declaration of affection?  Which by the way, that ship long since
sailed.”

Devon
sighed dramatically. “Not a physical virgin Pollyanna, that’s too literal a
translation these days. Pure of heart is probably a more accurate
definition.  As for what Case is, he’s one of the Merrow.”

“He’s
a water faerie?”  Drum’s tone dripped with contempt.

“You
know them?”  Nell enquired.

“A
male race; bunch of sponges, con artists and no good drifters, living off the
kindness of strangers, using their looks and charm to entice humans to do their
bidding.”

“Hey.” 
Case made a feeble token protest.

“And
you were going to marry him?”  Nell directed her question Devon’s way.

“Arranged
marriages are very common in my culture.  The Makura are female and as a
royal daughter I must marry a royal son of the Merrow.  On paper he seemed
to be an entirely appropriate match.  We both live in Sydney, up and
coming Doctors, we could have been quite the power couple.”  Devon shook
her head lost in thought.  “I thought we had so much in common.”

“Except
you’d be the one holding all the power.”  Case spat out petulantly. 

For
a split second Devon looked almost sad as she contemplated Case before a mask
of indifference swept across her features.  “I was seeking a modern
marriage, a partnership.  You’re the one playing power games here
Case.  No wonder you insisted upon coming to this reunion, you heard Nell
was going to be here and thought you could make a bid for power.”
 Contempt radiated from her eyes as she looked away from Case’s pathetic
figure to Nell.   “I didn’t realise that day at the cove that it was
Case who attacked you, I just thought you’d become entangled in seaweed and
gave yourself a scare… it never crossed my mind that he would try and use a
centuries old by-law to try and get the upper hand in our marriage contract.”

“The
upper hand?”  Nell queried curiously.

“Whoever
has the greater strength when a marriage contract is signed between the Makura
and the Merrow basically gets to make all the key decisions; like where the
couple will live, near a river or near an ocean, what the sex of the children
will be and by very definition of their sex which race they will belong
to.”  Devon gave Case a distinct look of disdain.  “You couldn’t be
happy with living in Sydney where we would have had the best of both
worlds.  As for the children… if and I say if, we had chosen to have some
I would have thought in this day and age we would have talked it through and
come up with a compromise, instead you tried to cheat.”

“How
is power usually measured?”  Drum clipped out the question.

“A
test of power over water is the norm, though these days the test is more of a
nod to keeping the older generations happy, a tradition if you will.  I
don’t know of many who actually believe the results mean anything… except for
bozo over there obviously.”
 
Devon issued
a small annoyed sound of derision.
 
“I
thought… I presumed that given how much we had in common on paper that we’d be
a reasonable match.” 

“So
there’s some old law or something that says if he could have gotten a ‘virgin’
to admit her love for him he would have somehow circumnavigated the test and
gotten the upper hand?”

“A
ridiculously out-dated law.”  Devon confirmed.

“But
still legal.”  Case groused.  “All you had to do was say the words.” 
He sent Nell a sulky glare from his one good working eye.